Fuel oil for residential and business heating systems are usually stored in a tank at the premises where the heating system is located. For residential installations the fuel tank is usually located in the basement of a house or outside the home. Deterioration of the fuel tank over time can result in fuel leakage with consequent damage to the premises as well as environmental contamination. Fuel tanks are usually visually inspected by fuel dealers or other service personnel during annual heating system maintenance, but such visual inspection does not reveal many deteriorating tank conditions and does not provide any accurate predictor of tank life. Ultrasonic thickness testers are known for testing the wall thickness of tanks and other vessels; however, such ultrasonic testing has not been applied in a residential application to monitor the condition of fuel oil tanks or to provide data in a systematic way for prediction of the remaining useful lifetime of a fuel tank.
It would be beneficial to have a system for predicting the useful lifetime of fuel oil tanks to minimize the likelihood of a fuel tank failure and the consequent cost, damage and hazard which would be occasioned by a fuel spill. Fuel oil dealers typically wait until a tank leaks before replacing it.